YinTx

Not really a burgundy. Its several colors, but primarily red with some browns blended. Hard to illustrate with photos, which don't do the color justice. The dark browns tend to highlight distresses in the leather, the reds make it pop. It morphs depending on the light, more dark burgundy/maroon in the low lights, reds in the sunlight. It isn't easy is impossible to do it consistently, so I rarely show it to folks, because when they see it thats the color they want lol. I can't blame them, it really is neat in person, and I tend to do it for things I will keep myself, like this wallet. It looks good with a variety of thread colors, but I have tended to use creams, and in this case, black. YinTx

YinTx

So, I had these extra bits of very thin Hermann Oak leather that I didn't want to just toss in the bin. I have always wanted to try my hand at a nice bifold pocket wallet with turned edges, and ribbon pockets... so I thought what the heck, I'll give it a go. Here's the result...not the silk purse I had quite pictured in my mind's eye, but useable. A lot of little errors that sum up to a not perfect item, but I learned a lot. I think I might not ever make another one either... this was a pain in the rear! At least not unless someone offered me the right amount of $$, and I don't see that happening, since this didn't turn out so awesome.... Technical details: my own blend of fiebeng's dyes... 35/3 Coats Barbour linen thread, hand stitched at 10 spi, Hermann Oak Leather 1 to 2 oz, batik hand dyed cloth liner. difficulties with uploads.. apparently 187kb exceeds the size limits.... YinTx

Alex, Thank you kindly for your compliments. As far as the tools shown in that particular photo, I purchased them off of Ebay, search for "European style stitching chisel." Other irons I have and use are mentioned in the gallery: Hope that helps! YinTx

I've been looking for a good source of clean local (USA) beeswax. Yours looks pretty dark in the photo... is it brood wax with a lot of propolis? and how much does each pile weigh? Thanks in advance, YinTx

The middle tool in the photos I show is a CS Osborne 133, just like the one that Bruce is showing in his video. I like what it does, but it needs to be rescued. Anyone know the best way to recover the damaged edge? YinTx p.s., its not an issue of sharpening, more like reshaping if you look closely at the opening, it is uneven. YinTx

Oh my goodness, I can't believe no one has answered this one! While I haven't done one yet, I plan to, and in fact have started. I think there are a couple of ways, here is one (not my preferred, but it works as you can see) and another, with an upclose of the corners in construction: and finally, the method I think I'll be trying, which has an angled miter: Hope this helps! YinTx

Man, these are amazing. I love looking at your works. Not just the tooling, but your ability to use colors and the craftsmanship is outstanding... I sure hope you get really good money for these works of art, you certainly deserve it. YinTx

**** Furniture sells this crappy stuff. They have trademarked it "durablend." They used to call it Durablend leather, now they have taken to calling it Durablend Upholstery. If you look into consumer affairs and online reviews, you will see they have managed to earn 1 star out of 5, amazing they are still in business. The sales folks even have a bad habit of claiming the material is "all leather" or "real leather." Even their own extended warranty does not cover the leather from peeling, because it will and it does, just like the photo. The material is 57% polyurethane, 26% poly/cotton, and 17% leather. I can't tell you how many times this has lead to people asking me if I can re-cover their couch. Most of the time, when I tell them it would cost thousands to do that, they walk away. One customer has not... so apparently I need to learn to do upholstery leather. Any suggestions on what the best leather types/brands are for this? YinTx

"Somethin wrong here I'm starting to think I want one." That right there is an awesome complement! Thanks for that! I could tell you the sales price and cure you.... or at least then you'd make one yourself. Appreciate all the positive complements and suggestions, everyone. I'm off to make the next batch... YinTx

I have been using the Tandy edge beveler, but I have not been very happy with it since it just makes a squared off edge now with two corners to sand smooth. I came across these other two bevelers in the pile of old tools I had bought, but they are in pretty rough shape. My impression, right or wrong, is that these will cut a rounded corner, instead of a chamfered bevel. But one appears to have been cut through on the business edge, likely by oversharpening with a rouge loaded thread, and the other is pitted pretty bad. My question is, can these be saved, or do I have to go get another $40 tool for each weight of leather I work with? and if these don't cut a rounded edge, can someone tell me what will? Thanks much! YinTx

It's still only the 9th. And since no one does free anymore, maybe folks are paranoid? Donno, maybe everyone has a sack o snaps already... YinTx

I honestly don't know myself, thats why I was asking.... YinTx

" I believe w&c and Hermann Oak are the only domestic tanneries left." SB Foot? Tennessee Tanning Company? Sunderland Leather? Thiele Tanning? I think there are others, but I haven't looked into it. Are these not still in business? YinTx

10 down, a few to go. Was happy to make a couple with fun thread colors, including the purple on chocolate. Enjoy! And, much thanks for the link, Rocky, I'll be checking them out... YinTx

Rocky, yes I agree, after I made this run of wallets, I knew the full width pockets were causing some issues, particularly with inconsistencies in edge thickness and having to stitch through the cement and lining for the periphery stitch, making it very difficult to keep even and nice. I had already decided to do a partial width version for the next go round, so nice to know I won't be creating problems when I do that. I had been contemplating cloth pockets as I mentioned earlier, but have not. I will check out the ribbon pockets, thanks for the search pointer, Bill. And yes, Biker, the lowest pocket does use the body for the front of the pocket. Also I had an idea for the "T-Pocket" design last night as I was drifting off to sleep, so I may try it in the very near future. Likely not very different from the current "T-pocket" design, just a very slight variation. YinTx

Probably John Lobb shoes, YinTx They mentioned there were about 15,000 lasts there. Including Royalty.

Don't mind teh crooked stitching on the pocket liner.. that was a reject pile item, but it shows the layout anyhow. imagine it flipped over, and glued and stitched to the back of the slotted leather piece, then one more piece to cover the whole back, the skived section is folded over it and stitched. YinTx

Biker, Thanks for that. I think it was a bit of luck happening with the cell phone camera, but as they say, I'll take luck over skill every day. Here are a couple of shots of the credit card pockets in construction. pretty basic, I think some others have done similar styles here before. But a lot of skiving, gluing and stitching. I think I'd prefer the "T-Pocket" design for simplicity and clean looks. However, paying folks seem to want this style, so this style it is for now. The slots are just two holes punched and then connect the dot with a sharp knife, and burnish the resulting inside edges. 10spi on the pocket liners with a really fine linen thread to keep the bulk down. skive all edges to keep thin. Glue to main leather of pocket and stitch one at a time. TBC.. not letting me upload images... YinTx

Biker, I'll try to get some photos of the construction of the pockets. meanwhile... Work in progress... YinTx

Heh, yah first thing that came to my mind was, "huh, been a while since you've sharpened something, yah?" Occurred to me that using the backside of the shoe box lid he was working off of would have been a better strop, but the technique would not have sufficed. I did really enjoy the Paul Parkman video, I've been fascinated by shoe making lately. I can see how this has become a lost art, and dying business, with machines largely taking over and making similar styled shoes in way less time. I am surprised there are still individuals out there making them by hand, watching the factory work it seems they can be fabricated with nearly equivalent levels of quality as well with the right operators. There's another video on John Lobb shoes, they sell for British Sterling 4,000, and take six months to make, using same tools they used 100 years ago. Amazing. Half of the work is in making shoe lasts, they have a collection of 15,000 of them from their customers over the years. I have to wonder how many shoes you can make on a last before the nail holes destroy them? YinTx

Ray, Any idea what size pistol fits in there? YinTx

Wow, so I was watching some amazing work on making shoes, such as these, which are nice enough to make me want a pair: when I came across this other little ditty, showing a representative artisan from a world renowned fashion house making high end women's shoes.. jump to about 5:38 in the video to see how he maintains the fine edge on his blades... and then continue watching as he struggles to get it to cut anything! He resorts to using it like a saw, hacking away at the leather. Count me floored. YinTx

A bit more progress... sorry bout the 'blurry, my camera has decided to go on the fritz. YinTx